A new tumor model for angiographic investigations: feline sarcoma virus tumor induction in adult cats.

This article describes the first successful virus induction of sarcomas in adult immunosuppressed cats. The method of tumor induction, the immunosuppression regimen, and the gross, histologic, and angiographic findings in these induced sarcomas are described. The simplicity of the model, the rapid and reliable growth of the tumors, and the size of the animals permit repeated angiography. The model is well suited to studies of angiographically directed therapy with embolic agents, radioactive implants, or chemotherapeutic drugs. The use of a feline model permits repeated selective angiography, which is not the case with small laboratory animals, in which such studies are difficult. In this investigation, tumors were induced into the right hepatic lobe because of the relative homogeneity of peripheral hepatic vascularity and the ease with which early neoplastic changes can be detected. There is good evidence to indicate that virus induction sites in other organs would also be successful.